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Our summer boxes
have been quite impressive so all the members’ hard work watering this year has
paid off. Our main and best-positioned polytunnel has enabled us to grow tomatoes,
peppers, aubergines and sweet potatoes.

We experimented with fennel for the first time and were
awarded 3rd prize at the Redbourn Horticultural show for it! Fortunately,
our aim was to participate and get our name known rather than to win!

We have had some fantastic sweetcorn but we probably lost
50% to predators. Early on we saw magpies going for them and so we
covered them with netting.

As we did for other crops, we also installed a solar
powered sonic rodent deterrent as we suspected rats, mice or squirrels.

Beer

In early September, Farr Brew requested that the hop
cones be harvested and delivered to the brewery. The harvest was not
great with only two of the ten plants really flourishing and only one other
producing any cones at all. We guess this was down to the unusually hot
and dry weather.

Farr continue to
support us, this time with a donation of beer for our Harvest Festival. It was
good to see site manager Ian doing something other than working!

Harvest
Festival

Once again, we welcomed members and Friends to Hammonds End. It’s
always a good excuse to tidy up the site (as if we didn’t have enough to do
just with picking at this time of year!). The quiches, barbecue and all the food
supplied by our members went down well.

Naomi organised a cryptic treasure hunt which was a great way for
everyone to take time to look at the site and exercise our brains as well as
our jaws. Music from the folk trio Said the Maiden (who in 2017 won Folking
Awards ‘Rising Star’ prize, and an NMG Award nomination for best Acoustic,
Country & Folk Act) added tothe
party atmosphere. A very enjoyable afternoon was had by all ages and might even
result in a new member - David Heritage, Mayor of Harpenden said “I feel really
inspired and would like to join myself”. We actually had a pair of mayors in
attendance as Cllr Rosemary Farmer, the Mayor of the City and District of St
Albans, came too.

One of our Incredible Edible volunteers came for the first
time and said "I am so, so impressed by what you've all achieved at Hammonds
End Lane - you should all be very proud of yourselves!” So, after 4 and a half years’
work, well done to all our members.

Publicity

In the last few months I have ‘enjoyed’ appearing on Radio
Verulam’s ‘Bubble and Squeak’ show with Andrei Lussman and Ruby Raut of the
Foodwaste Ninjas, being interviewed at the Food & DrinkFestival’s Cookery Theatre and presenting at
a Soroptimist International St Albans meeting. We are now producing some slides
and a script to help other members get involved in publicising FoodSmiles.

A number of us did enjoy making a scarecrow for Ayletts' Scarecrow
Trail as part of their Autumn Festival. A lot of effort went into knitting and crocheting vegetables and we
quite thought we would win a prize. Sadly, the voting public thought otherwise.
What do you think?

Save the dates

Our next Coffee Morning at
the Courtyard Café will be on 21st November, and our AGM on 12th February. More
information will follow.

Finally, a seasonal recipe
from our friendly chef, Alex (now working at the Lower Red Lion):

Green Lentil Moussaka

For the filling:

400g tinned
green lentils

500g potato

500g
aubergine

200g onion

200g
courgette

1 red pepper

1 green
pepper

100g celery

4 cloves
garlic

200ml red
wine

100g tomato
puree

20ml
balsamic vinegar

20g
muscovado sugar

½ tsp
cinnamon

5g fresh
oregano/1 tsp dried

salt and
pepper to taste

For the topping:

750ml Greek
yogurt

150g grated
parmesan (or vegetarian-friendly alternative)

1 egg

pinch of
nutmeg

salt and
pepper

Method:

Slice the
aubergines to 1 cm thick, sprinkle with salt and leave in a colander to drain
for 20 mins. Get on with other stuff whilst waiting.

Dice the
onion and slice the celery. Fry off with a little oil. Dice the peppers and cut
the courgette into wedges. Add to the pan. Squish the garlic and add. Next add
the lentils, the tomato puree, the red wine and the flavourings. Bring to a
boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 mins.

Slice the
potatoes to ½ cm thick and boil them for 2-3 mins. Drain and leave aside.

Grate all
the cheese and put half in a bowl, then add the rest of the ingredients for the
topping to the bowl. Mix together.

Wash the
salt off the aubergine and fry in a pan with a little oil until soft.

You are now
ready to assemble. Lentil stew goes into the base of your roasting dish, next a
layer of potatoes, then the aubergine, then the yogurt and finally, finish with
the remaining grated cheese. Bake in the over for 30 mins at 180°C or until the cheese is a dark
gold.